The emergency exit pathway through a side window, and the emergency equipment available in the enclosed cab of an Aurizon 2800 class locomotive were inadequate to ensure a prompt escape by crew and potentially limited access by emergency services in the event of a locomotive overturning. This increased the risk of injury to the crew from known evacuation hazards.
The ATSB considers that Aurizon’s development of a compliance strategy to align its locomotive engineering standards to the Access and Egress standard (AS7522), and involvement in the associated Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board development group, should prompt the adoption of corrective measures to reduce the risk of injury to the crew from evacuation hazards, particularly in the event of an overturned locomotive. These actions partially address this safety issue.
Aurizon advised that, following the accident, it developed an access and egress compliance strategy to outline the steps it was taking to align its locomotive fleet to the requirements of the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board (RISSB) Australian Standard Access and Egress – AS7522:2021.
Aurizon also advised it was actively participating as a member of the RISSB development group to review AS7522. Additionally, per Aurizon's compliance strategy, it advised that when the Standard has been agreed and published, Aurizon will review and update its engineering standards as relevant, assess rollingstock compliance, and implement agreed solutions.
